A printed circuit generally consists of a conductive pattern formed on the surface of an insulating base. This composite is assembled by bonding the components together in a press or in a nip roll through the use of an adhesive.
Adhesives must meet strict requirements if they are to function satisfactorily in a printed circuit. In general, an adhesive should have electrical properties at least equivalent to the insulating base, should form a good bond to copper, should retain the bond through soldering and in service, should not corrode copper, and should have other properties that will enable it to be used either in a nip roll or laminating press type of operation or both.
Because of the large number of different applications for printed circuits, a multitude of adhesive materials have been developed. No one adhesive composition exists that can be used for all applications and each adhesive is designed to function in a given circuit application.